Imagine the scurrying footsteps on priceless carpet-clad hallways, the furtive glances and the carefully locked doors.

Intrigue is HIGH inside the royal complex as they hunt for the mole responsible for the spate of negative Meghan Markle stories which have been drip fed to the press with nearly laudable cunning (“nearly” I said) over the last few weeks.

Meghan, the stories go, made the Duchess of Cambridge cry during Princess Charlotte’s flower girl dress fitting, which was part of the “exacting preparations” in the lead up to their May 19 nuptials.

Then there was the claim the former Deal or No Deal star threw a bit of a tantrum when she was told she couldn’t wear an emerald-crusted tiara due to its sketchy provenance (let’s leave aside the fact the Windsors probably shouldn’t have any dodgily acquired jewels tucked away in the Buckingham Palace vault anyway).

Late last month it was claimed that, golly gosh, Kate and Meghan don’t really get along or particularly like each other.

Also, last Christmas the pair had had a blistering row that required Prince Charles stepping in to smooth things over.

Such is the antipathy between the two women, according to the tabloids, that the Sussexs are going to trade their proposed 22-room Kensington digs to live in renovated five-bedroom cottage in the Windsor, a town THAT DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A WHOLEFOODS.

But is this really the case?

Read hard enough (and obsessively enough) about this “feud” and you will start to notice that in many of these stories, peppered somewhere near the bottom are brief mentions of two other key players in this tawdry tabloid blow up — Wills and Harry.

Everyone’s talking about the Kate and Meghan feud but is it really their husbands who are dueling? Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Prince Harry and Prince William joke about their volatile relationship when they fronted the first annual Royal Foundation Forum in London back in February. Picture: Chris Jackson/WPA Pool/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

These titbits are starting to paint a sad picture that it is the two brothers’ rocky relationship that is putting a wedge between them.

Supposedly Harry thought his brother didn’t do enough to welcome Meghan to the family; Wills meanwhile told the Queen he thought Megs wasn’t the right woman for Hazza who then promptly found out.

Ever since these Cambridge vs Sussex stories first started popping up a couple of weeks ago, the coverage has been predominantly focused on the women and blame for the froideur between the royal courts has been clearly laid at their Jimmy Choo-wearing feet.

What feels like something closer to the truth (that Wills and Harry’s troubles significantly contributed to the Frogmore decision) has been relegated to background detail in the unseemly rush to cast this whole chapter as an oestrogen-laced stoush pitting the blow-dried English rose against the scene-stealing starlet.

Because, sadly, a good cat fight is sexy. Two balding brothers having a spat has none of that red-blooded, Dynasty-esque bitchiness. Rather, it’s a slightly sordid case of the relationship between a couple of formerly close siblings hitting the rocks.

When Meghan and Harry first went public with their romance he lambasted the sexism and racism that she faced.

Two years later, nothing has changed.

The sad reality that this whole PR debacle lays bare is the extent to which nothing has changed since then.

— Daniela Elser is a freelance journalist and contributor. Continue the conversation @danielaelser

— This article originally appeared on whimn.com.au and is reproduced here with permission